To Find a Better Road
by Enula
Summary: What if Victor was the one who talked to Ruby before she left? Because we all deserved another Frankenwolf scene!


_AN: Lyrics at the end are to All American-Rejects "The Poison." I don't own it._

* * *

 **To Find a Better Road**

Ruby leaned against the doorframe as she watched her queen—her best friend— smile bigger than she'd ever seen.

"Prince…Neal."

The whole restaurant cheered. Mugs were raised and clinked together, hands clapped, Mary Margaret and David shared a heartfelt kiss with their baby tucked securely between them. It was perfect.

 _For them._

Ruby wanted to be happy for all her friends. _And she was._ But there was a deep ache inside of her that kept her at bay. She didn't want to sit at the booth with Snow—she would know instantly that something was wrong. And Ruby had no intentions of being the downer during such a celebration. Snow and David had been through so much…they never got to spend any good moments with their first born, they deserved to have this moment now.

She could feel the small bump of the bean in her jeans. She wanted to just leave—but she couldn't go without telling anyone.

"Hope you're getting paid overtime if they're making you work _now."_

Turning, she saw Victor holding two mugs of beer. He offered her a smile and a beer, both of which she took gratefully.

"Not working. Just admiring from afar," she responded before taking a sip of the cold beverage.

"Best to avoid the rowdy crowd," he agreed as they both watched Leroy getting loud at the bar, "Some baby shower."

She laughed shortly, "I would hardly qualify this as a baby shower."

"Ah. Well…" he stared at her from over the lip of her mug, "I guess I wouldn't know."

Her smile faltered at his words. They kept eye contact. They'd spent enough time together at this point to know each other's mannerisms. He knew something was up. She nervously switched her weight from foot to foot and she could sense that she was going to end up telling him everything. Just like that night she saved him at the docks.

She hoped he could forgive her…

But when she opened her mouth to confess, he beat her to the punch.

"You wanna get outta here?"

"Yes," she answered without any hesitation. She tipped her mug to down her drink, watching Victor through the glass as he did the same. He took her mug to place them both on the counter as Ruby grabbed her coat. Victor walked out before her, but she glanced back before exiting. No one was paying attention. Snow and David continued to coo over their sleeping son—just as they should.

Ruby smiled softly before leaving with Victor.

In the moment they started walking, she knew they were blindly heading toward the docks.

"I'm waiting for you to ask," she eyed him flirtatiously with a grin.

He sucked in a deep breath, letting it out loudly as his hands dug deeper into his pockets, "Not gonna lie to you, I'm almost scared to."

She pursed her lips together and pulled her coat tighter around her, "You know something's up."

"It's a monster thing."

Her breath wavered. She tilted her head back to look up into the clear night sky. _Why's it always so cold here…?_

"That's part of what's going on…I'm—I'm the only one of my kind here. There's _no one_ else like me. Not even close…" Ruby listened to their shoes hit the pavement with each step. Storybrooke was dead silent with all its inhabitants back at Granny's.

"Hey, I thought we agreed we were alike," Victor countered, pretending to be offended.

Ruby laughed, "You _save_ people. I turn into a wolf."

"You save people, too," he reminded her.

She didn't respond. She spotted the docks up ahead and knew that's where she was going to spill the beans…or _bean,_ as it was.

"Victor, would you be mad at me if—."

"No."

They looked over at each other. He kept a straight face and she could tell he was trying to keep his composure. He elaborated, "If anything, I'm more upset with myself. Being the only damn doctor in this town has taken away so much of my time—time I just wanted spent with you. And now you plan on leaving."

Her eyes widened at his words, "How do you know that?"

He sighed, "Honestly? I didn't. I was _really_ hoping you would tell me I was wrong."

She stared at him, dumbfounded for a long moment. What did she do that gave her away?

They reached the end of the dock. Victor sat down and let his legs dangle off the side. Some part of her wanted to shake him and demand to know how he found out and who else knew. But that would have been ridiculous. So instead, she took a seat next to him.

"I look around… _all the time…_ and see _people._ People who never really had it easy, but who had each other to rely on. Someone that they could share their similarities with. I can talk about being a wolf all day to someone, but that wouldn't mean they would _get it._ They don't have to concern themselves about their children inheriting wolf DNA and running off. They don't have to worry about their spouse mistakenly eating them in the middle of the night," Ruby groaned and rubbed her forehead.

Victor nudged her, "I'm supposed to be the one that wallows in self-pity."

She smirked at him, "Yeah, well…I need _you_ to save _me_ now, Doctor. You have a cure?"

"Unfortunately…I think I can only offer poison here. I want to be selfish and tell you not to go."

Ruby bit her lip at his words, feeling each syllable punch her in the chest.

" _But…_ I understand why you want to go. I may not be a _wolf,_ but I know what it feels like to be the only one of my kind. No one else knows what it's like to still feel pain because of— _colors,"_ He grinned at the ridiculousness of the sentence, "But I would never want to go back to black and white. I probably would kill myself."

"Don't say that…" Ruby murmured, looking out into the dark water only illuminated by the moon.

Victor stared out with her, his hand blindly reaching over to grab hers. She squeezed it encouragingly. She rested her head on his shoulder and basked in the comfort of simply knowing that he was still alive.

"Remember when you told me the first color you'd ever seen was red?" She asked suddenly.

He nodded, "And now it's all I see when I close my eyes."

Her heart skipped a beat and she was unprepared when she blurted, "Come with me."

She felt him stiffen against her and she lifted her head. They stared at each other with shocked, horrified, and excited expressions, "You've been to the Enchanted Forest before, right? It's _so_ much better than…I mean, I guess I can't say _better_ than this world. Different. But a—a place we can try to find _ourselves."_ She smiled hugely at him, searching his face for some sign of a smile in return.

"Ruby…" he started, not sure how to answer, but there was no need. In one swift movement, she leaned in and kissed him. Her lips tasted delicious, like _red,_ and he wanted to pull her in for more because he couldn't even count the seconds he waited for this moment.

She pulled her lips from his but kept their foreheads together. He barely opened his eyes to see her staring at him.

Her lips were still parted when she said, "Let's not make that a goodbye kiss, okay?"

He closed his eyes again and mentally killed himself over his words, "I'm the only doctor in this town…"

Ruby pulled back enough to see the pain written all over his face.

"You told me yourself. If anything happens to anyone, I'm the only one that can patch them up."

She shook her head, "There's people here with magic now that can…" she trailed off before she could finish her thought. True, there were people who knew magic that might be more willing to help now. But being a doctor was who Victor was. It was what he was best at and—she could see it in his eyes—he didn't know who or what he'd be if not a doctor.

Ruby knew he wasn't a _medical_ doctor before the curse, but the curse made them who they were today. As hard as it was to admit, it was true. The Enchanted Forest would have no modern medicine. People depended more on herbs and potions there.

And if he thought he was being selfish for wanting her to stay, she was being just as selfish for asking him to come with her.

"You plan on coming back, right? After you find what you're looking for?" He asked her with hopeful uncertainty.

And she suddenly wished that all she was looking for was true love. That's what everyone else was looking for. They found their true love and got their happily ever after. Even _The Dark One_ found it.

 _They say true love can break any curse…_

She looked down at their hands that were still entwined, "I wish I could pretend that I would be happy with just—."

"Don't pretend," he interrupted her, shaking his head.

"Let me _finish,"_ she emphasized teasingly and was glad they could still smile, "I was going to say that I wish I could be happy with _just_ finding true love," her smile turned sad in an ironic sort of way, "Because you're _it."_ She laughed breathily, "I found you. And I found that…since I met you— _really_ met you—I stopped hating myself."

His expression told her that he felt the exact same way.

She folded in her lips briefly as she chose her next words, " _But_ I know that if I don't go back…look for others like me…I'll come to regret it. I need to _try._ But _you_ …!" She leaned in toward him again, her eyes seeming to glow brightly in front of him, " _You_ are the reason I want to succeed and come back."

Victor grinned with a bittersweet movement, "Well, with the way things go around here, I can't promise that I'll be _here_ waiting for you—," he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, "But I _will_ be waiting for you."

Tears stung her eyes but she smiled through them, "Why does that make me want to stay _and_ leave?"

They both laughed. She kissed him again, pressing their foreheads together.

"Thank you. Monster to monster."

* * *

 _You take me with you if you could but I wouldn't go_

 _I guess that sometimes we both lose our minds_

 _To find a better road_


End file.
